“The broad coalition of NGOs that has worked so hard to improve Canada’s arms export control regime will be gearing up again this fall to ensure that our Senators are made fully aware of the need for further amendments,” says RI President Peggy Mason.

The mass shooting in Toronto’s Greektown this summer, following on the heels of other gun deaths in Toronto, has highlighted the fundamental importance of strengthening Canadian domestic gun controls. This in turn has brought further much-needed attention to Bill C- 71, which received third reading in the House of Commons on June 20th, 2018.

“For the last 10 years, we’ve had a steady erosion of gun control in Canada and for four years, we’ve seen successive increases in gun homicide across the country,” said Wendy Cukier, president of the Coalition for Gun Control and a professor at Ryerson University. “When you increase the availability of firearms, you increase the risk they will be misused.”

Given the shortcomings in Bill C-71 and the calls from Toronto Mayor John Tory for federal action, the Justin Trudeau Liberals recently announced that Bill Blair, Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction, will lead a study on totally banning handguns and assault rifles.

“You should lead an examination of a full ban on handguns and assault weapons in Canada, while not impeding the lawful use of firearms by Canadians,” Blair’s mandate letter reads.